Six Degrees expands data centre presence into government accredited Ark Data Centre

Leading managed service provider Six Degrees, through its public-sector division, Carrenza, has expanded its UK data centre presence to offer even more secure, compliant, Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) services to public sector customers. To facilitate this offering Six Degrees has opened two new availability zones in Government accredited Ark Data Centres in Corsham and Farnborough, in close proximity to Crown Hosting Data Centres Ltd, also present in the facility. This expansion has doubled Six Degrees’ public-sector data centre footprint to four UK based availability zones and, given that Ark is assured to host data at all HMG classifications, it will now be able to hold data at OFFICIAL and above classifications. 

Six Degrees, via Carrenza, provides comprehensive cloud managed services to the UK public sector including both X86 and non-X86 based cloud hosting and multi-cloud managed services to support workloads in AWS and Azure. Its core IaaS solution acts as a ‘springboard to the cloud’ to bridge the gap between current outsourcing arrangements and true public cloud service delivery, enabling public sector bodies to get the commercial benefits of using the cloud now without the expensive upfront capital and time investments often associated with undertaking a full digital transformation programme. Now, due to the fact that Ark is assured to host data at all HMG classifications, Six Degrees is also able to hold confidential data at OFFICIAL classifications, enabling it to offer a wider range of services to more public-sector organisations. 

Six Degrees plans to support Crown Hosting Data Centres Ltd, which is a joint venture between the Cabinet Office and Ark Data Centres dedicated to supplying colocation services to the UK public sector. Ark Data Centres are best-in-class facilities and, as the first ever to achieve the Uptime Institute’s Management and Operations accreditation, are maintained and audited to stringent standards. With Crown Hosting Data Centres Ltd also being located in the same facility, Six Degrees will be able to work with public sector organisations that plan to host applications in Crown Hosting Data Centres Ltd to offer a hybrid environment that facilitates seamless application and data migration for public sector customers with tight restrictions.

“We are delighted to be in the Ark Data Centre facility and looking forward to working closely with Crown Hosting Data Centres Ltd to broaden our range of compliance offerings,” explained Thomas Konopka, Sales Director, Six Degrees’ and Carrenza Public Sector. “We have found that public sector organisations often lag behind in adoption of technology advancements and we feel that in supporting Crown Hosting Data Centres Ltd, we can make it far easier for them to develop their digital transformation strategies in line with other industries that have less data restrictions.”

“Public sector companies have multiple pressures, from limited budgets to stringent compliance requirements,” Peter McShane at Crown Hosting Data Centres Ltd commented. “Carrenza will add to the comprehensive portfolio of efficient, secure and affordable multi-cloud solutions available to the UK public sector on the Crown Campus as organisations transform to Cloud Native applications”

“Cloud technology is a fundamental aspect of many successful IT environments. But public-sector organisations have more restrictions than the average business, from budget to compliance, which can make cloud adoption challenging,” said James Henigan, Cloud Services Director, Six Degrees. “By supporting Crown Hosting Data Centres Ltd and working with Ark Data Centres we are confident that we can bring a tailored cloud offering to the public sector and enable more organisations to take advantage of this technology and better serve constituents.”